To download the full testimony, with charts prepared for Illinois, click here. For a copy of the separate statement prepared for the Illinois Reform Commission, click here.

Michael J. Malbin, Executive Director of the Campaign FinanceInstitute, testified today before the Illinois General Assembly's JointCommittee on Government Reform in Springfield, Illinois. The committee– co-chaired by Michael Madigan, the Speaker of Illinois' House ofRepresentatives and John Cullerton, President of the State Senate – isholding hearings on ethics and campaign finance reform following theimpeachment and removal from office of the state's former governor, RodBlagojevich. These follow hearings held by Illinois Reform Commission,a citizen's commission chaired by Patrick M. Collins that was appointedby then Lt. Gov. (and now Gov.) Pat Quinn. Malbin had given testimonyto the Reform Commission on February 23.

Illinois is one of onlyfive states in the nation with no form of contribution limits.Unlimited contributions are allowed not only from individual donors butfrom corporations and labor unions. In his testimony today, Malbinargued that Illinois' comparatively strong campaign finance disclosuresystem demonstrates why disclosure-alone is not enough. Whiledisclosure and prosecutions may eventually catch the most egregiousactivities, they do not deter the more subtle forms of unethicalbehavior encouraged by a world without limits.

"The vastmajority of public officials are decent, hard working people who willbe guided by the standards around them. The problem is not with what isoutside the law but with what is permitted and encouraged insideit," Malbin said. "The criminal law should only be used for what israre. It rubs a civil society raw when the first and only sanctions itoffers are ones that involve impeachment or jail time."

Increasing Small Donor Participation

Oneside effect of contribution limits will be to take out of Illinoispolitics a significant part of the money that has fueled its pastelections. CFI has been developing models based on extensive dataanalysis of the fifty states to see whether small donors might replacethe money previously supplied by those few who had been writing thebiggest checks.

In his testimony, Malbin gave the committeesome of the key results from CFI's detailed analysis of Illinois donorrecords from the election of 2006. (The records for 2008 are not yetavailable.) These compared the sources of funding under Illinois'wide-open system with what the pattern would have looked like withcontribution limits. In a series of tables, Malbin also showed some ofthe changes that could occur if only a small portion of the populationgave $50 each. Finally, the tables looked at the impact of a publicmatching fund system for small contributions.

Malbin arguedthat these kinds of policy choices could change the campaign financesituation in a positive way, bringing more people into the process assmall donors and volunteers. "The country is strengthened when peopleexercise a sense of ownership over their democracy." Malbin said. "Itis important, when you talk about campaign finance reform, to thinkabout what you’re trying to get to, not just what you’re trying to getaway from.”

For a copy of this statement, with charts prepared for Illinois, click here. For a copy of the statement prepared for the Illinois Reform Commission, click here.

TheCampaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit instituteaffiliated with the George Washington University. Statements of theCampaign Finance Institute and its Task Forces do not necessarilyreflect the views of CFI's Trustees or financial supporters.